We have ourselves a new leader heading into Christmas... The Shaving Moes finally reached the top of the pile after weeks of hard work. Their 28 points eclipsed Don's Dinos this past week.

The biggest week, however, came from Team Lowes Racing. Their 30 points put a little space between them and the Langdon River Dogs and Team EA, who are tied for fourth (the River Dogs are ahead on goals).

Waiver draft pick-up, Shawn Horcoff (The Shaving Moes) was the best player of the week, picking up 7 points during the week. He was better than four other players picking up 6 points each during the week.

Key Injuries:Bryan Berard (Langdon River Dogs) placed on IR with a back injury.Jason Spezza (Sherpa's Yaks) out day-to-day with a chest injury.Saku Koivu (Don's Dinos) out day-to-day with a groin injury.

Key Returns:Robert Lang (Langdon River Dogs) missed 8 games with a groin injury.Alexei Kovalev (Team EA) missed 13 games with a knee injury.Simon Gagne (Team Chevy) missed 5 games with a groin injury.John LeClair (The Late Impact) missed 5 games with a groin injury.Adam Foote (Team EA) missed 4 games with a groin injury.

The end of the first week with new players has come and gone... and THE Team has come out firing. A week-high of 28 points closed the gap towards Taffy's Tyrants... a good battle indeed.

Brendan Shanahan (Taffy's Tyrants) was the week's best player... definitely the best pick up of the waiver draft, thus far. He had a huge 9 points this past week... which helped Detroit pick up a few wins.

Monday's News:Robert Esche (The Slim Pickens) will be lost to the Flyers for the last few games of the month of December. His groin injury is a little more serious than once thought. Keith Tkachuk (THE Team) has suffered a broken hand and will be out of the Blues line-up for 4-to-6 weeks. Not good news for the battling team. Mario Lemieux (Doug's Deadbeats) will be sidelined indefinitely with his heart problem. Jose Theodore (The Late Impact) has suffered a knee injury, it is unknown at the moment how long he'll be out. Mathieu Schneider (The Shaving Moes) left Saturday's game with a charley horse... it is unlikely, though possible, he'll miss any games this week. Daniel Briere (The Late Impact) has been lost on a day-to-day abdominal injury.

An oops at the draft... the Sherpa's Yaks should have dropped goalie, Dan Cloutier, but instead thought he'd be back... only to find out on Monday that he's done for the year. D'oh! Robert Esche (The Slim Pickens) is having groin troubles... he's listed as out day-to-day. Adam Foote (Team EA)... same problem.

News for Saturday's games... Jason Spezza and Wade Redden (Sherpa's Yaks) both returned to the Senators line-up today. Spezza missed one game, Redden missed 10. Rick Nash (Langdon River Dogs) returned to the Blue Jackets line-up today to play only his fourth game of the season. He's still looking for his first point of the year. Mario Lemieux (Doug's Deadbeats) did not play Saturday against Buffalo... his heart problems have flared up again. Finally, Tomas Vokoun (Team Lowes Racing) returned to the line-up after missing a few games with a knee problem.

Another lacklustre week for points throughout the pool... but the top teams are still getting enough to pull away from the bottom. Only a total of 230 points from all 14 teams last week, which is about 100 less than our best weeks. With the implementation of the newly picked-up players, there should be a drastic increase in points... not to mention 10 more games being played through the league this week will also help.

Don's Dinos & the Shaving Moes both ran away last week potting 26 points each... while the 4th place Team EA look to move up even further after a 25 point week.

Last week, two players came up with huge numbers... one's a Czech and one's a chunk. Both Jaromir Jagr (Langdon River Dogs) and Keith Tkachuk (THE Team) each picked up 9 points a piece.

Tuesday's News:Monday night saw day-to-day injuries to both Jason Spezza (Sherpa's Yaks) with a hip pointer and Ed Belfour (The Shaving Moes) with a groin injury. Sunday saw Paul Mara (The Late Impact) and Glen Murray (Team Lowes Racing) down with the flu for a couple days

Saturday's news: Long-term losses: Both Joni Pitkanen & Martin Havlat were lost to the Sherpa's Yaks for extended periods of time. Pitkanen 4 to 6 weeks, Havlat, possibly the season. Guess who's getting dropped today... Tomas Vokoun (Team Lowes Racing) has been sidelined indefinitely with a groin injury. Mario Lemieux (Doug's Deadbeats) will be sidelined for a week or two after checking himself into the hospital for an irregular heartbeat. Roman Hamrlik (The Slim Pickens) was lost indefinitely with a strained knee... he'll probably miss up to a month with his injury... the Pickens made no comment as to whether or not he'd be dropped. Simon Gagne (Team Chevy) was also shelved for a couple weeks after straining his groin. A pretty big hit to Team Chevy's point total, for sure.

WARNING: Try to avoid taking Peter Bondra... he's out for a month. His points look good, but he won't be playing for a little while.

Returns to the line-up: Oleg Tverdovsky (Team Chevy) returned to the 'Canes line-up on Tuesday after missing 5 games with a concussion. Adam Foote (Team EA) came back after missing 4 games with a strained groin. Both John LeClair (The Late Impact) and Ziggy Palffy (Pull the Goalie) returned to the Pens line-up after missing a game a piece this week. Evgeni Nabokov (Team Chevy) played again this week for the Sharks after being on and off the injury list this week. Hopefully, he'll be back to normal playing time. Peter Forsberg (Pull the Goalie) returned to the Flyers line-up today... and scored a goal in the first period against the Wild as I was writing this.

Monday, December 12, 2005

Starting tonight, the players that were picked begin amassing points for their respective pool teams... which is good for a few teams as players they had dropped picked points up for them last night. Points begin tonight for the new guys... but you won't be able to see updated standings from last week until tomorrow morning... I left my USB key with the hockey pool at work.

D'oh!

Nevertheless... we'll review the drops and pick-ups from Saturday, just so you know who everyone has.

Teams who had taken three players in the draft, obviously needed them. There were quite a few players that hadn't even hit double-digits in points yet this season, so pretty much every team improved themselves... hence the reason for this draft. Hopefully the injuries don't hit too hard again too soon.

The Shaving Moes are on a mission to be on top... taking top spot in the week making it impossible to be passed and it makes it much easier to catch the leader when they're not getting as many points as your team. It was a pretty weak week for scoring... only 225 points were tallied in Week 9, 50 points less than the first week of the season.

Tomas Vokoun (Team Lowes Racing) was the clear winner for Player of the Week... he chalked up 8 points, two clear of his nearest rivals.

Sunday's News:Wade Redden (Sherpa's Yaks) should be ready to go when the Senators face the Canucks next week. Adrian Aucoin (Langdon River Dogs) is back on the shelf with groin problems. Kimmo Timonen (Team Lowes Racing) has caught himself a bout of the flu of late... he missed yesterday's game with it. John LeClair (The Late Impact) and Evgeni Nabokov (Team Chevy) are both also listed as out day-to-day with groin injuries.

Derek Morris (Doug's Deadbeats) returned to the Coyotes line-up yesterday after missing 3 games with a rib injury. Petr Sykora (Team Chevy) also returned to the Ducks line-up after missing 5 games with his own groin injury.

Saturday's News:The Satellite Hotstove has said that Rick Nash (Langdon River Dogs) should be back next week. The Blue Jackets don't play again until Thursday... so, it's not like he's missing any games in the next week or so. Ziggy Palffy (Pull the Goalie) missed tonight's game against the Flames... he's day-to-day with a groin injury. Robert Esche (The Slim Pickens) will miss the next week's worth of games with a groin injury of his own. Evgeni Nabokov (Team Chevy) left Friday night's game against the Sabres with a groin injury as well... it's unclear how long he'll be out of the Sharks line-up. Robert Lang (Langdon River Dogs) is now listed as day-to-day with a groin injury... that's a whole load of sore groins in the news this weekend, eh?? Saku Koivu (Don's Dinos) is out indefinitely with... you guessed it... groin problems. Sheldon Souray (Team EA) has come back from his groin injury now... a big lift to the Habs and EA's point chances. Zdeno Chara (Pull the Goalie) will miss the Senators next game after being handed a one-game suspension for instigating a fight in the last 5 minutes of a game.

Friday's News:Sandis Ozolinsh (Doug's Deadbeats) has been offically placed on the Injured Reserve... he'll probably be missing a few more games at least with his sprained knee. Pierre Turgeon (The Late Impact) is expected to play this weekend for the Avalanche after recovering from his minor groin pull. Peter Forsberg (Pull the Goalie) is still a game or two away from returning... he won't be playing against Nashville this week.

Another HUGE Trade...The Boston Bruins have sent Joe Thornton (Don's Dinos) to San Jose for three players; Marco Sturm, Wayne Primeau and Brad Stuart... none of the former Sharks were pool picks. Thornton should be with the Sharks for the Friday & Saturday matchups, but this all comes as a big shock to the hockey system. The Bruins have been quoted as saying that they needed a big shake-up and the Sharks weren't gonna pass up an opportunity to get one of the game's best players. Thornton has 33 points already this season, which puts him tied for 10th in pool scoring. Oh my.

Thursdays OTHER News:Sandis Ozolinsh (Doug's Deadbeats) has found himself injured again. He's listed as day-to-day with a knee injury. On Tuesday, Jocelyn Thibault (Pull the Goalie) was waived by the Penguins, which probably spells the end of his tenure in Pittsburgh. He also cleared waivers, meaning that he probably won't see a lot of playing time any time soon. A pretty obvious drop come the 10th. Chris Pronger (Pull the Goalie) returned from his one game away from the line-up with a knee injury this week. He should be good to go this weekend. Martin Havlat (Sherpa's Yaks) has been lost again... this time upwards of two months. He suffered a dislocated shoulder this week and will more than likely be dropped on the 10th. Doug Weight (The Shaving Moes) is back on the shelf day-to-day with a hip injury... that's what you get for getting old, eh Doug??